August 27, 2003
Noon-ET

Participants (Panel Members):

• Anthony DiMartino
• C. Morgan Edwards
• Charles (Skip) Eshelman
• Curtis Feese
• Robin Gausebeck
• William Murphy
• David Robinson
• Thomas Seuntjens
• Eileen Shuman
• George Sullivan
• Virginia Symonds
• Jeana Warren
• Inez De Jesus (Acting Designated Federal Official)

Staff Members:

• Sallie Chavez (Recorder)

Not Present:

• Phil Bryant
• Ivan Cotman
• Glenn Hall

Guests/Program Owner:

• James (Jim) A. Cesarano, Program Analyst, Wage & Investment, Single Point of Contact

Welcome and Announcements/Roll Call
Acting Committee chair Morgan Edwards welcomed everyone to the conference call.

Program Analyst/Recorder Sallie Chavez took the roll call and quorum was met.

Review/Approve Minutes of June 25, 2003 and July 23, 2003
Minutes were reviewed and approved by consensus.

Old Business
Acting Committee Chair Morgan Edwards advised the committee that he would be attending the Joint Committee Meeting in Denver in September.

Committee Member Tom Seuntjens told the committee that the agenda for the Annual Meeting would be finalized at the Joint Committee Meeting in September. The Annual Meeting will consist of reports from all the chairs, breakout meetings on various subjects, administrative items, issue committee meetings, and area committee meetings. There will be other speakers such as the Commissioner, National Taxpayer Advocate, and either the Secretary of the Treasury or a designee from Treasury.

Committee Member Eileen Shuman asked if there would be activities planned for family members. Committee Member Seuntjens said he was not aware of anything but he will check.

Program Owner Jim Cesarano stated he might have a conflict. He may be in a meeting until October 2. He will be able to fly into Washington on October 2 but would not be available that day. He stated that he could have a power point available for someone to show or he could have someone else present it. Committee Member Tom Seuntjens suggested he discuss this with TAP Program Analyst and TAP Manager.

TAP Program Analyst Sallie Chavez thanked Committee Member Anthony DiMartino for writing the CP-2000 recommendation. She asked the committee if they had any comments about the recommendations. Committee Member Anthony DiMartino said he would not be hurt if someone wanted to change something. Please be honest. Committee Member George Sullivan asked about the results from the focus groups. Program Owner Jim Cesarano stated that the comments went to the contactor who was doing the user surveys. He will try and get a copy out to the group. He thinks he sent a prior survey to TAP Program Manager Nancy Ferree. He will check with her.

Committee Member Eileen Shuman stated she gave copies of the revised CP-2000 to two (2) people and they loved it.

There were no other comments about the recommendation and by consensus it was agreed to forward the recommendation to the program owners with a copy to the TAP Joint Committee.

Committee Member Charles (Skip) Eshelman reported on his participation in the Notice Elimination Notice Program Improvement Initiative Team (NPIIT) Meeting in Atlanta. He said if nothing else at least he learned a lot of acronyms. In the meeting they enhanced the charter. He got a chance to see what the IRS does to try and change notices. He said he was the only “outsider” to attend the meeting. He did not give much input. He considered it more of a learning experience. They went through the charter and logistics and came out with a roadmap of how they were going to proceed.

NEW BUSINESS
Program Owner Jim Cesarano said a contractor has been hired to review the procedures for the Dynamic Project Team (DPT) for the rewrite of the CP-71 series. They are requesting both internal and external comments. They expect it will take longer than normal. The charter is being worked on and he will forward it when it is finished.

Committee Member George Sullivan asked for copies of the CP-71 series. Program Owner Cesarano stated it was part of the package of notices reviewed at the Austin meeting.

Program Owner Cesarano stated that he has CDs with copies of notices on them. He will forward them to the TAP office to be copied for the Committee Members. Committee Member Eileen Shuman said she would be willing to make copies for all members.

Committee Member Robin Gausebeck stated she was concerned about the group. She wants to be involved and feels that the committee is not being asked to assist. She wants to know why the IRS is using a contractor and not the TAP.

Program Owner Jim Cesarano said he does not know why the IRS is using a contractor. He said the committee would have an opportunity to join in the DPT however there is a level of uneasiness about how to relate with the TAP.

Committee Member Tom Seuntjens asked for an explanation. Program Owner Cesarano said there is a level of trust that goes on during a DPT. There is a lot of teamwork involved. It needs some type of formality. Committee Member Seuntjens states the committee would like to be involved but in a more informal manner.

Program Owner Cesarano stated that some leaders are very open to the idea of TAP participating. They would like to be able to contact members to get feedback from them on a variety of issues. This is just being explored and not finalized yet.

Acting Committee Chair Morgan Edwards asked what was the relationship between our group and the other groups. Committee Member Tom Seuntjens stated that it was a continuous process. He stated that individual program owners like Jim Cesarano are needed to get the word out about the TAP.

TAP Program Analyst stated that at least one Committee Member was invited to the requirements meeting. She will send out an email to all Committee Members to ask for participants. It will be on September 29 in the DC area. Please respond as soon as possible to the email.

WRAP UP
Acting Committee Chair Morgan Edward stated there was much administrative items and asked how is it done? He is getting a lot of email and it is very disruptive. Committee Member Tom Seuntjens stated that email is the preferred method. Now with TAPSpeak, much of the attachments will be on the web site.

Comments and Questions
Committee member David Robinson stated he discussed the CP2000 with the Local Taxpayer Advocate (LTA) in his area and he was unaware of this new form. Program Owner Cesarano stated that the CP2000 was done under the new notice group. It has been done twice. The LTA might have remembered the last way it needed to be done and not aware of the new process.

Next meeting date: Wednesday, September 24, 2003, Noon EDT. Dial-in number and pass code remain the same. It was questioned whether this meeting should be held. It was decided that the meeting should be held just to keep in touch with the committee members.

Meeting adjourned.